Juvia's 7943rd love potion scheme
by Jachien
Summary: Juvia, love potion, Gray. One-shot. This is not about Juvia/Gray. It's a love candy cane. Whatever, it's short, just read it.
I wasn't sure how to write this. The idea popped into my head and then wouldn't put the rest of the puzzle together. Since I've been sitting on it for a while I decided to just write whatever and see if it made a somewhat plausible short.

If you're a Natsu fan, this probably won't be your thing. I like the kid, i just don't see him in any relationships. He's too 'all for one' to be in love. And i just like Gray better.

I'm not a good writer but the point of fanfiction is to practise writing styles and that's what i hope i'm doing.

anyway, here it is. enjoy, or don't. i'm not your parental figure.

I don't own Fairy Tail, nor am i making any money from what i do here.

*_*_*_*_*_* story time *_*_*_*_*_*

It was another day in Magnolia, a normal day. Or, what constituted as normal for Magnolia anyway. Zooming in on the guild itself we see Juvia behind the bar and Juvia is plotting.

Juvia is plotting because Juvia has found another love potion. Juvia knows this one's going to work this time. Juvia… doesn't really learn from her mistakes.

The whole guild knew what was up: the water mage had found another way to poison her Gray-sama. It had taken them all a few days to figure it out but now everyone had learned their lesson, except Juvia of course. Well, maybe she'd learned a little bit; this time she'd got the antidote _with_ the potion.

In the last week Gray had avoided her attempts at feeding him no less than seventeen times. Spilled cereal, upset drinking cups, flipped dinners. He'd had to learn how to cook just to avoid the hassle of bar cleanup, because yes, if he spilled it Mirajane always made him take care of the mess afterward.

Today though, he'd overheard the blue haired girl say that she was all out of the stuff, so damned if he wasn't having Mira cook her fabulous steak dinner. He ordered it up, sat down with knife and fork, then happened to look at the bar. There was Juvia, an empty bottle in her hand and a look of such hopeful expectation that he couldn't help but slam his head on the table, narrowly avoiding the dinner plate. Well, no matter, he could order another one. And look, there's Natsu back from a job with Lucy.

Not even hesitating he hooked the steak with his fork and flung it at Natsu, "Natsu! Steak today!"

And the stupid kid just ate it out of the air. Gray was a little shocked. He'd expected the beef to be flung back at him and then they'd start a fight etc etc. Everyone knew better than to eat things Grey was eating, _just in case_. Instead, Natsu straight up swallowed the deliciously marinated steak in one mouthful.

Lucy seemed a bit put out at her companion's nutritional hastiness and looked to Grey for an explanation. Gray was looking back at her with wide eyes, there's no way was he going to be blamed for this one; he pointed at Juvia behind the bar.

Seeing Juvia with an expression of terror Lucy noticed the vial in the girl's hands. _Well damn_.

Turning to look at Natsu she was just in time to see the hearts light up his eyes as he launched himself at Juvia.

Grey couldn't help but feel a little bit responsible, he should have known better than to throw food at Natsu, and since he was already in the dragon slayer's path Grey reached up and caught him around the middle, then tried to hold on while Natsu pummelled him in his attempts to get to his new lady-love.

Lucy was hardly concerned, "Juvia, antidote please."

Juvia however, didn't respond with antidote in hand like she did the other seventeen times, her face went green and she held out the empty bottle.

The entire guild, who up until that moment had been pretending not to listen to the conversation, suddenly went quiet. Everyone looked at Lucy.

"ooookaay, so let's go get more." She looked firmly and expectantly at Juvia.

"...They're out".

Lucy's face got darker, "How long until it wears off?"

Juvia looked at the floor, "it doesn't."

The blonde narrowed her eyes, "How do we break the spell?"

Juvia shuffled and looked at her hands. There was a moment of silence when the guild actually thought Lucy would finally attack the older girl, then suddenly, "Hah!" Juvia looked up from the bottle's instructions in her hand, her face shining with hope, "We just need to have him experience strong feelings while being surrounded by strong feelings!"

Well, that lame but at least it would be quick, Natsu was nothing _but_ strong feelings and the rest of them could think of something, this guild was full of people that had strong feelings. Easy peasy.

Not so easy. They'd tried beating him, bribing him with food, debasing his history, releasing him on Juvia (which might have just been because Gray didn't like being punched so many times in a row, plus he was still a bit mad at Juvia for the relentless stalking), and even insulting Igneel. None of it was working and Grey thought he might know why.

He shared his thoughts with the group: Natsu felt strongly about everything he knew, so naturally, those strong feelings were just regular feelings to him. They'd have to get the dragonslayer to feel something new _and_ strong. But what new feeling could they introduce to the pink haired mage? This might take some time.

Everyone sat together to brainstorm, leaving Juvia to run frantically around the bar in her attempts to avoid Natsu's new found affection for her. Grey thought it was hilarious but as the hours went by he noticed Lucy's attention drifting more and more frequently to her dragonslaying partner. He, and everyone else, could clearly see how much she liked the idiot. It had been obvious from the beginning, just as it had been obvious to most of them that Gray liked Lucy.

He hadn't really tried to keep it a secret and he was pretty sure even Lucy knew a little bit, she was quite intelligent after all. Mira found out and got really excited about the prospects of a love triangle in her bar, but he'd had to tell her that it wasn't really a love triangle, more like a love candy cane. It started with him, he loved Lucy, she loved Natsu, and Natsu… well, he definitely cared for Lucy, but no one was sure if it looped all the way back around to love or if it just sort of ended there. No one counted Juvia, she was just crazy. And if you counted her then you had to count Lyon and then it just started becoming a really long candy cane as more and more people were involved.

Grey shook his head, that train of thought had completely derailed in the gingerbread village. He sighed, he'd thought of something a while ago and even if the first part of it was enjoyable, all the remaining parts were _less_ desirable and he'd been hoping that the group could come up with an alternative plan. He glanced across the table at Lucy and found she was staring straight at him, the heartbreak clear on her face. She knew he had something, damn puppy eyes.

 _Well shit._

Gray stood up and avoided looking at Lucy, "Ok, I have a plan. Everyone out except for the original cast of the opening credits and Juvia." This only eliminated about half the people in the room but at least there were less people.

Grey went about setting up his plan. He put Juvia and Natsu on a bench near the middle of the room, Erza and the rest surrounding the couple for their part in "strong feelings", then he and stood Lucy in the middle of everything.

He turned to Natsu, he had to keep that flame brain's attention for this. "Ok Natsu, Lucy and I are going to put on a play about how much you love Juvia. Make sure to watch!" but he didn't wait to see if he was actually watching, after all, someone would point the combustible dragon in the right direction eventually.

Lucy looked at him in confusion but he just wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. His other hand went to her cheek, "I'm not really sorry about this." Then he kissed her; a full on romantic, tender, emotional, heart bursting kiss...

It didn't take long, the side of his head exploded in pain and he went flying across the room. Turns out, as he expected, Natsu had never experienced jealousy before. That, combined with everyone's shock, Juvia's heartbreak, and his own feelings for Lucy had broken the spell over Natsu.

The ice mage stayed on the floor and put his hands behind his head as if relaxing. No one had ever encountered jealous Natsu before but if he was anything like Gajeel then it would be best to just step back and wait for him to cool down.

Natsu stood over him, flames in his eyes. "MINE!"

Gray ignored his throbbing head and avoided meeting his gaze, "I know I know. But you're free of Juvia now aren't you?"

The flames died instantly. "Oh. Yeah." He stared at Gray for a moment in confusion, trying to decide if the good outweighed the bad, then turned away, "Sorry about that."

Gray stayed on the floor and made himself an ice pillow to calm his head. Natsu was clearly still on edge, if he got up now it would be like a challenge and while challenging Natsu was an everyday occurrence, he didn't think the same rules applied to challenges regarding relationships. Dragons and mates were a forever type of thing, very possessive. He could hear Mira keeping Juvia away as well, the demon barmaid knew everyone's feelings and if he stayed down then she'd keep Juvia occupied. Plus, he didn't want to admit it but his heart hurt more than his head. The kiss was completely one-sided. _She hadn't kissed him back_. He knew she wouldn't, but still... he had hoped. Just a little.


End file.
